Said Ahmadzai

Said Ahmadzai (1954-1988) was a commander of the Afghan Mujahideen during the Soviet-Afghan War. He served with distinction during the Battle of Khost in September 1986, but was killed by the Soviet Army in 1988 in Operation Magistral.

Biography
Said Ahmadzai was born in Kandahar, Afghanistan, to the Ahmadzai clan of the Pashtun people. In 1975, at the age of 21, he enlisted in the Mujahideen, who had formed to resist the Daoud Republic of Afghanistan's new modern government. In 1979, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, Ahmadz ai fought on the front lines of war.

Making contact with Mujahideen leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Ahmadzai became the leader of his own Mujahideen group. Ahmadzai was based out of the city of Khost in Khost Province on the frontier with nearby Pakistan, who provided a large amount of Mujahideen fighters. Ahmadzai recruited several foreign troops and created an impressionable fighting force. In 1986 he helped to repel a Soviet assault on Khost, leading the Mujahideen that reclaimed the ammunition depot.

In 1988, Ahmadzai was one of the several militants who was killed in Operation Magistral, a Soviet move to protect their withdrawal from the countryside and back to Russia. Ahmadzai was killed by mortar fire from the Russian paratroopers.